On Solidarity Sunday we’re asked to stand beside our gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender brothers and sisters and proclaim to the world that we will always, to the best of our ability, stand on the side of love — no matter who someone is called to love. For Unitarian Universalists, this may not be new to us, so we can also use this occasion to examine other ways in which we might stand with others in solidarity, in our congregations, in our communities, in our world. This sermon includes the story of Bishop Carleton Pearson, an evangelical minister who awakened to the universalist truth that all are loved in a loving and just divine creation. He lost his mega-church and many friends, but he and his New Dimensions congregation eventually found connection with our liberal religious tradition at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa. It is an inspiring story.
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Hearing an NPR commentary last night, I thought to myself, this man should be a U-U! I looked him up on Wikipedia, then did an internet search with Universalist & came up with your sermon! And as far as All Souls in Tulsa, what I want to say, is ‘Right On!’
I was a member of the First Universalist Church in Southold, Long Island, for a number of years but have not been active in NYC since I returned here a few years ago; hearing your sermon & the hymn make me nostalgic; perhaps I will check out the All Souls Church here now.
Thanks for a very moving sermon.
P.S. Re: Leaves of Grass: Walt Whitman began his career, as a school teacher, in Southold, where apparently his beliefs were received badly – the story is that he was tarred and feathered, and run out of town on a rail! It seems that most of the local inhabitants were not so accepting as the Universalists.